Many people have had braces of some kind, usually during their teenage years. According to the NHS, a third of children need orthodontic work. However, it often isn’t work that takes over six years…
I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve felt self-conscious of having braces, or the way my canines stuck out, the way my jaw was different. In the last six years or so, I’ve been likened to a vampire, I’ve been mocked for my lisp that I had, I’ve been called ‘brace face’, and just a few months ago a couple of drunk strangers said “[she’s] got more metal in her mouth than at a scrapyard” as I walked by. I remember at one point I wouldn’t smile in photos because I didn't like my jaw. Instead, I poked my tongue out so that I didn't feel so self-conscious.
At nineteen years old, I am finally finished with braces. As a memoir, I’ve now got TMJD - temporomandibular joint disorder… basically, my jaw locks a lot. I have to repeatedly unlock it in the mornings when I first wake up, then a couple of times during the day, usually when I‘m talking or eating. If I’m ever talking to you and I press my jaw, I’m just unlocking it… as you do… Finally, I’m saying goodbye to the countless appointments, the moulds that they say taste like strawberry but actually taste like old gum. I’m saying goodbye to the X-rays, feeling self-conscious in photos and when speaking in public, the mouth ache, and the title, ‘brace face’.
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